Gozo bishop expects cooperation from priest in Cairns abuse allegations

In comments to The Times, Grech said that clergy and laity alike “are in duty bound to cooperate with the ecclesiastical and civil authorities investigating similar cases.”

A Gozitan priest at the centre of a lawsuit filed by a former altar boy from Atherton who alleges he suffered years of abuse, has refused to return to Australia to face his accuser, The Cairns Post reported yesterday.

Father Joseph Sultana relocated from the Cairns diocese to Malta in the late 1990s after allegations surfaced of misconduct that the Catholic Church deemed “inappropriate” for a priest. A decade after Sultana left Australia, a Cairns man lodged a lawsuit against the Catholic Church in the Supreme Court, claiming he was regularly abused by Sultana while he was a student and altar boy at St Joseph’s School and Church at Atherton between March 1979 and November 1982.

In a joint investigation with MaltaToday, The Cairns Post tracked down Fr Sultana to his current residence in the Gozo diocese of Malta.

Cairns Bishop James Foley, who offered the victim religious counselling when informed of the abuse in November 2009, told The Cairns Post he had been in email contact with the current Bishop of Gozo, where Sultana is still serving as a priest. “The current Bishop of Gozo and I have exchanged emails on this matter, initiated by him after this was reported in the media in Malta,” Bishop Foley said.

“Now I have no authority or jurisdiction over Joseph Sultana. The alleged victim and his solicitors have been urged by myself and our lawyers that this matter should be in police hands, as they are the only ones with the means and the authority to investigate. If I make any contact with Joseph Sultana at this stage, that could interfere with any current or future police investigation. Hence, I am unable to say or do more at this time.”

A spokesperson for Bishop Grech said that when he came to know from the press about the allegations against Fr Sultana, Grech “immediately offered his cooperation to Bishop Foley... To date, neither the ecclesiastical nor the civil authorities in Cairns have requested any form of cooperation regarding this case from Bishop Grech.”

At the time the court case was lodged in October last year, The Cairns Post was told by local church representatives that they did not know if Sultana was still alive.

In a brief phone conversation on Friday, Sultana, believed to be aged in his 70s, said he would not return to Australia for the court case. “I cannot talk about this with you or anyone,” he said.

The case against the Catholic Church is being prepared by Dean and Bolton Solicitors, with medical reports being collated before both parties enter into a compulsory conciliation process. If the matter is not settled during that process, the case will go to trial.